9 am: 44°FMostly Sunny

11 am: 53°FMostly Sunny

1 pm: 57°FPartly Sunny

3 pm: 58°FPartly Sunny

More Weather

Print | E-mail to a friend FEATURED

Rx drugs kill more people than illegal drugs in W.Va.

March 16, 2008 @ 10:50 PM

The Associated Press

CHARLESTON -- In 2006, nine out of 10 overdose deaths in West Virginia involved prescription drugs.

"There's a perception that because these are legal, prescribed drugs, somehow they're safer," said Aron Hall, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer for the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.

"Our study shows that prescription drugs kill more people than illegal drugs."

Researchers in a joint state-federal study studied 332 accidental overdose autopsy reports, excluding suicides and overdoses. One-third of the prescription drugs taken in the state's deadly incidents were being taken by a prescription issued within the previous 30 days. Fewer than one in four of the deaths involved illegal drugs.

"A lot of people had prescriptions for opioids that can cause death," Hall said. "But that's not what killed."

Methadone contributed to one of three deaths, more than any other drug. However, only 10 of the overdose victims were enrolled at a methadone clinic for drug-abuse treatment.

Other opioid drugs that were frequently found to cause deaths were hydrocodone and oxycodone, each contributing to one in five deaths. Morphine contributed to about one in seven deaths.

Anti-anxiety drugs also were found in 43 percent of deaths.

The study was prompted by a February 2007 report by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hall said.